Always Believe
by TigerDemonX52
Summary: Fifteen year-old Cassie Sparks is always drawing people who all of her classmates say are nothing more than fairy tales. But what happens when she actually meets one of them, and changes what she thinks about the world, as well as herself. Who says you're too old to believe in magic? Rated T for language and some violence.
1. Keep Going

**I saw a couple of trailers for the movie coming out this month and I _had_ to make some sort of fanfic for it! This is my first Rise of the Guardians fanfic, so keep in mind that I might not be very good at this...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians!**

**Enjoy :)**

**Keep Going**

_Keep going, please keep going! Almost there! _I pleaded with my legs to keep running down the pitch black alleyway as I occasionally glanced back over my shoulder. The December night air felt like it was cutting into my skin as I rounded the corner of a building and into yet another back alley.

I could hear the boots of the ones' chasing me, they were smacking against the pavement not far behind and panic continued to well up inside of me. _Why do they want to hurt me so much? What did I do to them?_

When I exited the other alley, I could see my house. Of course, I couldn't run there because then they would know where I lived. If they didn't know already. Instead I ran right past, not even glancing up at the completely dark Victorian house.

I could feel my legs burning, begging me to stop running, and I wished that I could obey their orders. If I could just make it into the woods, then I could loose them in the brush. As I tightened my grip on my sketch book in my arms, I sprinted toward the shadowy outline of trees at the end of the street. _Almost th-_

A hand grabbed the back of my shirt and flung me backwards. My head smacked against the pavement, making a sharp pain shoot through my skull, my arms still gripped my sketch book because that is what I knew they wanted. Star bursts of color flashed before my eyes as my chasers stood over me.

"Aw, poor Cassie," one of them teased. "Did you slip and fall?"

"Shut up Jess!" I hissed back at the tall brunette, who smirked down at me like she knew she was superior to me. I completely loathed that look. "Aren't you a little old to be playing tag?"

She just laughed, "Aren't _you _too old to believe in fairy tales?"

Jessica's eyes fell on my sketch book and my heart dropped. I tried to get up and run again but one of her followers kicked me in the stomach and held me to the ground with her foot. "You're not going anywhere, freak." She giggled.

The second of Jessica's followers bent down and grabbed me by my blond hair and yanked my head upright. She punched me in the face, making my arms loosen and giving Jess the opportunity to grab my sketch book. My eye started to throb and I heard her laughing again as she flipped through the pages. "Oh, I've never seen this one before," She smirked as she shoved the drawing in my face. "Who is this?"

It was the drawing I had just finished seconds before they had started to chase after me. It was a drawing of a boy close to my own age with snow white hair and a staff in his hand that was hooked over at the top. The look on his face was the same one I was giving Jess, one of pure defiance. "Why the hell do you care?"

Pushing the picture closer to my face, she whispered, "You know what'll happen if you don't answer me right?"

I bored my eyes into hers. "Just get on with it." I tried to sound bored, but I could hear the pure anger dripping from my voice.

Jessica chuckled, "Suit yourself." and ripped my drawing in half, right down the middle. She then went through the rest of my drawings in the book and ripped them up too, and when she saw that I was still glaring at her she asked, "What, are you going to cast a magic spell on me now?" Before stalking off laughing with her friends.

I waited until I couldn't hear their foot steps anymore and then I slowly started to pry my aching body off of the cold pavement. I picked up one of the scraps of paper, and looked at the half of the boy's face on it. "Jack Frost," I whispered to myself. "His name is Jack Frost."

When I got home the house was still dark and quiet, not that I had expected anything else. I slid my keys into the lock, opened the door, and stepped into the shadows I call home.

I turned on a few lights as I made my way up to my room, passing several pictures of my parents and I. Worried that I would cry if I looked at them, I flipped a few over so that the photograph was facing down.

I guess you could say I live with my dad. Although ever since my mom died a couple years ago, he drowned himself completely in his work. He rarely ever comes home and the few interactions I do have with him always end up being quiet and awkward. With him it's either the office here in Greenlake, or one of the offices in other states, nothing else. So as far as I'm concerned, I live alone. The only sign that even remotely shows that he still knows I exist is the living expenses he puts into my bank account every month.

I walked into my room and turned my bedside lamp on, making all of the drawings I had taped to my wall seem to come to life. I went over to my dresser mirror and lifted up my shirt to uncover a colorful bruise decorating the pale skin of my stomach. I could see a black eye starting to form too and my blond hair was still in knots from where the girl had gripped it. When I reached back to untangle it, my goose egg of a lump pulsed with pain at the slightest touch.

I pushed the idea of cleaning myself up out of my mind and grimaced at the pain as I climbed into bed. Then looked at the ripped picture again.

The voices of my classmates began to echo in my head. _Your such a freak Cassie! I can't believe you still think Santa Claus is real! You're fifteen already, why don't you grow up! No wonder you don't have any friends._

Hot tears began to roll down my face and I didn't even try to stop them. No one could hear me here. I turned to face a drawing of Santa taped on the wall next to my bed and couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with believing. To tell the truth I don't believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny or the tooth fairy, but I believe in the magic surrounding them. The magic that we all feel as kids when we believe in them. What's wrong with wanting to believe in that magic when you have nothing else left? What if that's all that keeps you going?

Beep! Beep! Beep! North ran over to his giant globe and looked to see what the problem was. His jaw dropped when he saw a glowing, black mass swirling around a town called Greenlake. _How is this possible,_ He thought. _We took care of pitch already didn't we? What could it possibly be then?_

The black mass brightened then faded until it was gone. Like it had never been there at all.

**Ok, so it's a little depressing I know, but it does have a point to it I promise and it will get better. I'll write more when I can but in the mean time review and let me know what you think. ;)  
**


	2. Cassie's Pride

**This next chapter kinda gives more insight into Cassie's personality. I'm leading into the story slowly because then I think that makes it more fun. In both writing the story and just coming up with new ideas ;) This is the morning after chapter 1.**

**Cassie's Pride**

_It's so cold_, I thought as I pulled my thick comforter tighter around myself. I flicked one sleepy eye open at my bedside clock and the blue, glowing numbers read 6:30. _Great._ I could feel my injuries from the night before aching, just as I considered trying to get up.

Groaning at the pain, I flung the covers off and was instantly hit with a gust of freezing wind. My eyes shot to my window as I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself. It was open, wide open, the thin, white curtains blowing back as the arctic December wind rushed into my room. _I didn't open the window last night did I?_

As I rubbed my hands against the goose bumps on my arms, I got up and shut the window. I lingered there though, looking out at the town I had lived in my whole life. I loved this view of Greenlake: high reaching pine trees as far as the eye could see, and just over the tops of them you could see the roofs of houses peeking out. In the center of town, which wasn't far away, I could see lots of people starting to leave for their work day.

A throbbing from my bump brought me back to Earth and I walked over to my dresser and mirror to assess the damage again. I stared at myself: one black eye, a couple other bruises, a bump on my head, a bruise the size of a softball on my stomach and some scratches along my arms. Needless to say I looked worse than I had originally thought.

Keeping my jeans from the night before on, I pulled off my shirt only to realize it was ripped and threw it away. I slipped a random t-shirt and a gray hoodie on and attempted to run a brush through my knotted hair accidentally hitting my bump as I did so.

"Ow, ow,ow!" I hissed, rubbing my head as I put the brush down and went downstairs for breakfast. After that, I slipped on a pair of sunglasses to hide my black eye, my jacket, and my boots then ran out of the door with my back pack.

I breathed in the cool, morning air and I could feel it burning as it touched the inside of my throat. Based on how cold it was, you would probably think that we would already have a lot of snow on the ground, but there wasn't. None. At all. The only thing that was cold was the wind.

"Come on Frost," I whispered to the sky. "Get the lead out." Christmas Eve was a week away and if I could have anything for Christmas, it would be to see Greenlake perfectly coated top to bottom in nothing but flawless white. It's been a while since I've seen a white Christmas.

The wind howled an answer to me as it brushed my face and nipped at my nose, making me shiver. "Humph, I guess that's that then." I said sadly.

I walked up to Greenlake High School and even though school wasn't my favorite place to be during winter break, at least I wasn't sitting at home all by myself. Plus, what made it even better was the fact that most of the student body wasn't there, that alone made school ten times better than usual.

Whenever I came to school like this, I would help out some of the staff members if they asked me and when I was done I would either spend the rest of my time in the art room or in the gym playing basketball by myself.

This time though, I wasn't exactly in the mood for lifting up gigantic boxes. So I hightailed it for the gym and pushed open the door. Then stopped dead in my tracks.

You see I am one of those people who fall victim to the stupid cliché of their worst enemy being the head cheerleader. And said head cheerleader happening to have practice at the exact moment that I walk in. Actually no, correction, they were taking a break.

"Well if it isn't crazy Cassie," Jess smirked as she took a swig of water.

_Oh crap_, I thought miserably. I didn't think I would run into her for a couple of days. That's the only thing I hate about living in such a small town, you run into everyone you _don't _want to see. "I'm just here to play some basketball Jess, you won't even know I'm here." I kept my voice even.

"Oh, I highly doubt that," her tone grew surprisingly serious. "You see, just having you within fifty feet of me gives me the chills."

"Then I'll be fifty-one."

I turned and started to walk over to the hoop at the far end of the gym but Jess caught me by putting her arm on the wall next to me. "What makes you think you're so much better than us?" Her voice was low, angry.

I didn't see what she had to be angry about. I was the one with the injuries, mental abuse and not to mention shredded drawings over my head. All her doing and yet _she _was angry? Plus, when the hell did I _ever_ say that I thought I was better than her? She was either delusional or stupid, not sure which.

When I didn't answer her she asked, "What's in your bag?" And I tensed all over. Yes, I had another sketch book in my backpack, I have many sketch books. Did she know that I had it? Judging on the smug look on her face I would say definitely.

Knowing the drill by now, I spun away from her and ducked under her arm before running out of the gym. I turned back and they were chasing me... talk about deja vu. But if she was going to get my sketch book-no matter how many I have- I was going to make sure she fought for it.

My aching scrapes and bruises slowed me down a little but not much as I made my way through the school. They were almost on top of me when the outside doors in front of me flew open and freezing wind swept in. I heard the screams of the cheerleaders behind me and when I turned around I saw that they were trying to keep the wind from blowing their mini skirts up as well as trying to fight of the frost blowing in too.

Positive that they wouldn't follow me outside, I stopped and took out my sketch book. _Humph, might as well show her now._ "Hey Jess!" I called back to her over the sound of the wind as she was still shivering. "You want this right?" I held the book up so she could see it and threw it into the still open doors.

The wind was still blowing strongly, propping the doors open when Jess picked up the sketch book. She took one look at it, screamed then the wind just stopped. The icy gusts of wind went like they had never been there at all. _No way._

The doors shut between the cheerleaders and I and I didn't move. What was that anyway? _The...wind...just..._ I looked up at the trees and they weren't even rustling.

The angry cheerleaders banging on the windows snapped me out of my trance. They didn't dare come outside in only their uniforms. Though Jess looked so angry that she probably wouldn't care.

I tried unsuccessfully to suppress a laugh as I ran back home. Okay, so maybe I _did_ plan on giving Jess that sketch book one of these days. That particular sketch book was one of the ones I had used solely to vent all of my frustrations. Mainly by drawing caricatures of the brunette barbie.

I knew it would have felt good when I gave it to her, I just didn't know that it would be this good.

**So there is the continuation of the war between Jess and Cassie. Review and let me know what you think, I'm also open to idea suggestions so let me know. Thanks for reading :)**


	3. The New Kid

**Okay I think I know what all of you are thinking. WHEN DOES CASSIE MEET JACK?! Am I right? Well, read and you'll find out. ;)**

**The New Kid**

When I got home adrenaline was still pumping through my veins, but I was also still laughing.

I ran into the house and up the stairs stopping at the picture of my family that was still overturned. My laugh subsided as I quietly flipped it back up. I looked at the smile on my face in the picture, the smiles on my parent's faces as well. My gaze centered on my mom and I could feel a small smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. _I miss you, _I thought sadly. _But I promise, I'll be okay._

My gaze then shifted to my dad's smile, and I couldn't even remember seeing him smile like that after mom had died. Or even seeing him at all. _Okay, _I thought, determined_, I guess I'll give it a shot._

Not giving myself time to lose my nerve, I picked up the phone off of the charger and sat down on the couch as I found my dad's cell number in the contacts. As the phone rang, I could feel my adrenaline slipping away and my heart sinking as each ring went unanswered, then went to voicemail. When the tone beeped, I tried to keep the disappointment out of my voice. "Um, hey dad, it's me Cassie." I paused. "I was just wondering if you could come home tonight and decorate for Christmas with me. I was going to put up the tree, some lights and maybe bake some cookies so..." My voice trailed off. "Call me back." I hung up and I felt like Jess had beaten me up after all.

_Idiot, did you honestly think he would pick up? It's almost Christmas, he's probably busier than ever._ I sighed and stood up.

I turned my thoughts back to the look on Jess's face when she saw the sketches and a smile slowly crept back onto my face. "Dad or no dad," I said to no one. "I'm in too good of a mood to let this work me up."

I went into the kitchen and started to make a list of ingredients for both the cookies I wanted to make and dinner. Then ran right back out of the front door and into the cold morning air. It was only about eight o'clock so the stores in the center of town would probably just be opening. That was okay though, it would mean that there wouldn't be any crowds.

As I walked I looked up at the gray sky and I thought about the wind from before. It blew the doors of the school open like they were made out of toothpicks. Then just stopped like nothing even happened. It was like the wind was helping me.

I thought about my drawing, the one of Jack Frost. Then immediately shook my head to erase it. _There is just no way._ Whether it was the work of a winter spirit or not, I didn't know but it was definitely some sort of magic. I smiled to myself and whispered, "Thank you" to the sky, knowing that no one would probably hear it.

When I walked into the main square, I could feel the air change as the people went from asleep in their beds to bustling around and opening their shops. I walked into the center of the square and saw the gigantic Christmas tree that they were putting up. It didn't have any decorations on it yet but I still couldn't help thinking, _It's going to look great._

I saw the lights of the small grocery store flicker on down the street and I began to walk toward it. As I walked the wind picked up and it blew the shopping list right out of my hand. _Crap! _I ran after it and reached up for it but it was fluttering just out of my reach. _Come on, just a little farther._ I saw a light post coming up along the sidewalk and I jumped up on it to elevate myself and snatched the paper out of the air.

"Gotcha!" I cheered then breathed out a sigh of relief.

I heard the clicking of a single pair of feet and when I looked up I saw a boy on the sidewalk across the street, walking away from me. I probably wouldn't have given him a second thought, but when my eyes focused on his hair, I felt my jaw drop. It was white. Pure white, like freshly fallen snow. He was also carrying a big stick, taller than he was.

My eyes widened and before I could say anything, a gust of wind hit me and knocked me off of the light post. I shielded my eyes and when I looked back up, the boy was gone. _Was...that..._

"Are you alright sweetheart?" I looked up into the worried face of the elderly grocery store owner. She offered me a hand and I took it.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I smiled, trying not to sound as shaken as I felt. "The wind just knocked me over that's all. No major damage done."

"That's good." She replied, clearly relieved. "That wind has been blowing on and off something fierce lately."

I let out a genuine laugh. "You have no idea."

The lady smiled a sweet smile at me before saying, "Why don't you come inside now dear, there may be no snow, but this cold can freeze you to the bone. Besides that list is for shopping isn't it?"

I looked down at the grocery list that I had forgotten I had. "Um, oh yeah. Thank you."

I spared one last glance across the street as the lady led me inside.

...

As soon as I got back to my house, I quickly put the groceries away and ran to my room. I dug out one of my sketch books and flipped to one of my unfinished pictures of Jack Frost. My sketch had some characteristics that were similar with the boy I had seen. Short, ruffled, white hair and the long staff he was holding in his hand. But the clothes I drew him in and even some features on his face weren't exactly right.

_I think I'm going crazy._ I thought._ That couldn't have been him. It was just a boy walking in the square with a stick. Not exactly uncommon. _I stared at the sketch. _But what if-_

Jess's words popped into my head. _Crazy Cassie. Aren't you too old to believe in fairy tales?_

I sat on my bedroom floor and leaned back against my bed. _Magic,_ I thought. _is real. I can feel it in everything I come into contact with. _I looked around at all of the drawings along my walls. _Then why can't I be so sure about them._

_...  
_

Later that night at about eight o'clock, I slide the sugar cookies I was making into the oven and set the timer for twelve minutes. I then checked the home voice mail, no new messages, and my cell voice mail, no new messages.

I sighed as I sat down on the living room couch and looked at the tall, plastic Christmas tree that I dug out of the crawl space. It was still plain and bare but that would change once I got the cookies out of the oven.

I spared one last glance at my cell phone before chucking it onto the chair across from me. _What do I care if he doesn't come home AGAIN? It's not like I want to spend time with my own father. I was setting myself up for disappointment the moment I decided to pick up the phone._

The timer beeped and I put the cookies on the cooling rack. Then I brought my laptop in from my bedroom, plugged the charger into the wall and put the computer on the chair in the living room. I turned on some music and started to wrap the multicolored lights around the tree.

As I finished with the lights and reached down for the ornaments, a cool wind blew in from the open window and I was reminded of the boy from earlier. I had spent some of my time after I saw him trying to draw him. I haven't seen him anywhere around town before and living in a town as small as Greenlake, that was kind of unusual. Granted he could have just moved here. But even then word travels around here fast and even I probably would have heard about him long before I saw him.

If anything, I wanted to find him again just so that I could put my own mind at ease. To see for myself that even though I had no idea whether Jack Frost even existed or not, the boy I saw wasn't him.

I put the star on top of the tree and went to grab a cookie. I chewed it as I examined my handy work. "Hm," I hummed. "Not bad."

**MAAAAAYBE not what you guys were expecting, but that's kinda the point. Lol to tell the truth, I'm still brainstorming different ideas on how Cassie and Jack meet face to face. But in the mean time, review and maybe help me come up with some ideas. ;)**


	4. Let it Snow

**Okay, the moment you've all been waiting for! It took me all day to write *sigh* so tired... But anyway thanks for all of the supportive reviews and this chapter takes place two days after chapter three. Enjoy! ;)**

**Let it Snow**

Snip, snip, snip. I cut away at stacks of white printer paper as I sat in my desk chair and looked out of my window. Why was I doing this you may ask? Lets just say that I was taking matters into my own hands.

When I walked outside this morning I looked down the street to see an entire group of little kids staring up at the sky with disappointed looks on their faces. Bet I don't need to tell you why but I will any way. There _still_ wasn't any snow on the ground.

So, if Jack Frost wasn't going to do it, why not me? I couldn't actually make it snow but given the circumstances I could do what I thought was the next best thing. Now, about three hours, many, many stacks of paper and a few aching fingers later, I was ready for a makeshift winter.

The kids that I had seen before had already gone in to eat lunch and were just starting to come back out. I slid open my second floor window as they were passing my house. "Hey!" I called. "You kids over there!"

They stopped and turned to face the house. There were only three of them, two boys that looked about seven and a girl that looked about five, and when their eyes found the window I was leaning out of, they started to look a little nervous.

"H-hey." one of the boys said to me. But I could barely hear it.

I sighed. These kids probably had older siblings that just _loved_ to talk about how crazy "Crazy Cassie" was. I looked down at the kids and they looked a little scared. _What the hell did those morons say about me? You know what, scratch that, I probably don't want to know._

After taking a deep breath, I cracked a small smile and hoped that I didn't sound like a creeper when I asked, "Can you guys come here for a second?" Yup, I sounded like a total creeper.

The kids walked cautiously up to the house until they were standing under my window. They looked even more nervous and I could tell that they wanted to run away more than anything. So I got straight to the point. "You guys want it to snow right?" At this they seemed to relax a little bit so I kept going. "Do you like the snow?"

One of the boys spoke up. "Yeah," he mumbled. "we were looking at the sky because we were waiting for the snow to start. We just want to go sledding."

When I heard this, my smile widened a little bit. "Hm, I think I might be able to help you guys with that. I don't think I can make it so that you can go sledding but maybe we could do something else." I saw the fear in their eyes turn into confusion and I asked, "Do you kids know the song that you sing when you want the snow to come?"

The boys had barely had their mouths open when the little girl jumped up and down and yelled, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"

Attempting to suppress a laugh and failing miserably, I responded, "Whatever you say." Then dumped the white bits of paper out of the window.

The kids looked up in shock as the paper flitted down toward them, but then their faces lit up into gigantic grins. I watched them as they begun to make paper snow angels on the ground and wad up the paper into balls and throw them at each other.

When I ran out of paper to dump over their heads, they didn't even seem to notice and just kept playing. Then to my surprise, they even looked up at me and asked me to join them. I guess I was just getting caught up in the moment, but I grabbed my coat, ran outside, and began to have a paper ball fight with the laughing kids.

That's when I heard the laughing. It sounded like a boy's laugh but it also sounded way too deep to be that of one of the kids. I looked out by the sidewalk and down the street but I saw nobody. I shifted my gaze back toward my house and a gust of wind smacked me in the face. _What's with the wind lately?_ I asked myself. When it stopped and I looked up, no one was there either.

"What is going on here?" A voice from back towards the street asked, and I froze, I knew that voice.

I whipped around and there stood Jess with at least for of her followers. _Oh man, I'm screwed. _I thought, trying to figure out which way to run. Even though it's been about two days since I had flung my frustration sketch book at Jess and ran away, I still haven't been able to come up with a plan for when I ran into her again.

She took one look at me and the confusion on her face turned into blind fury. "Mimi!" She yelled and I looked down to see the five year old girl shrink back like she wanted to be anywhere but here. "I thought I told you to never go near Crazy Cassie!"

"Bu-but," the little girl stammered.

Jess didn't give her time to finish her sentence. "Go home right now!" she yelled. "And take your friends with you!" Mimi hesitated and Jess almost screamed, "Now!"

I bent down and asked Mimi, "Is that your big sister?" She nodded a reply, her eyes filling with tears. "Okay, well you better do what she says."

"B-but I wanna stay here and play."

I looked her into her green watery eyes and gave her a smile. "Right now your big sis and I have some big kid things to talk about. That means that you and your friends need to go home. But I promise that we'll play again later." I stuck out my pinky finger and held it out to her. "Okay?"

She slowly nodded and wrapped her small pinky around mine.

"MIMI!" Jess shrieked. Then anger lit inside me.

I stood up and walked up to her, getting in her face. "Does it make you feel good to yell at a little kid? Then to top it all off, she's your little sister. She's going home now so why don't you do us all a favor and shut up!"

Jess as well as her followers were so taken back by this, that they barely noticed Mimi walking up to them before she turned, kicked Jess right in the shin and ran down the street with the boys behind her.

I almost started to laugh as Jess jumped up and down in pain. Maybe there was some hope for that gene pool after all. "You're DEAD!" She hissed as her followers grabbed at me.

I was too fast for them though and I spun around and ran for my refuge: the woods. Was I a smart ass? Yes. Would I enjoy giving Jess two black eyes for the one I got? Definitely! But was I going to stick around and try my odds against five angry girls? No way in hell.

Tree branches caught on my coat sleeves as I pushed past them and to tell the truth I was still a little sore from the beating three days ago. But I wasn't about to slow down for anything. The girls' feet snapped twigs behind me and they didn't sound very far away. That wasn't all I heard though.

A laugh rang in my ears again and I turned my head to see the white haired boy with the stick perched on one of the high branches of a tree. We locked eyes and I thought I saw his widen, but I heard more foot steps behind me and I jerked my head forward, still running like my life depended on it.

I burst out of the trees and skidded to a halt in front of the gigantic body of water that Greenlake was named after. It was a dead end. I was trapped.

The girls ran out of the brush and locked their bloodthirsty eyes directly on me. My heart leaped into my throat and my stomach did flips as I backed up all the way to the edge of the choppy, freezing water. They began to charge at me. _Somebody help me!_

A cold wind brushed my face and I felt a firm, cold hand grip my wrist. My head flung around and there he was, the boy that I had just seen in the tree. _Where did he-_

"Come on!" He yelled as he tugged on my arm in the direction of the lake.

I planted my feet and pulled in the opposite direction trying to keep myself from getting dragged into the hypothermia inducing water. _I didn't mean this kind of help!_

"Come on you need to hurry up! Trust me, I won't let you fall in!"

_Yeah right! _I thought as I looked back at the girls that were almost on top of me, ready to rip my head off.

Then my feet suddenly began to slide and the boy tugged me forward over the water. I held my breath, preparing to fall in but it felt solid under my feet. I was running on ice. The boy ran directly in front of me still gripping my wrist to keep me going, the ice was forming under his feet, making a trail for me to follow.

_This isn't happening!_ I thought frantically. _I have to be dreaming!_ But as I felt the stimulating cold creep up from the boy's hand, I knew I wasn't.

The boy stopped running and I almost plowed right into him. We were standing on a small, round patch of ice in the middle of the lake. My knees shook as the water splashed around me and all I could think about was falling in.

A laugh made me pry my eyes away from liquid death. "Would you look at their faces?" The boy chuckled. "Their more pale than I am!" I shifted my gaze back to the shore where Jess and her cronies were staring at me with looks that were a mix of awe and terror. The boy was still quietly laughing as he held up his staff, pointing it at the girls on shore.

I heard him mumble, "I'll just scare them a little." as he smirked to himself.

Before I could say anything, he swung the stick sideways and a strong wind seemed to come from it. The trees on shore rustled loudly and the girls screamed and covered their faces. "She's a witch!" I heard Jess scream as they took off back into the woods.

**Soooooooo what did ya think? Epic? Lame? Somewhere in the middle? ... Please tell me this'll drive me crazy T_T but keep in mind that it's not over yet lol ;) Review and in the mean time I'll be getting some much needed sleep.**


	5. Magic

**Here is chapter 5. Sorry for making you guys wait so long. School + writers block + worrying if it's good or not = my week from hell -_- Anyways, read, review and if you feel like adding extra effect, listen to Reaching by Audiomachine while you read this. That's what I listened to while writing and I think the rhythm transferred over... lol enjoy! :)**

**Magic**

I fell to my knees on the cold, hard ice making the water splash next to me, but I barely even noticed it anymore. My brain was too busy trying to process what I had just seen. _No way._ I thought in disbelief. As I stared back toward the shore.

The boy was gripping his sides and laughing. "Did you see the looks on their faces! That was priceless!"

_Oh I saw it all right. I saw ice form underneath your bare feet and wind come out of the stick in your hand!_

"And don't worry," he said after he had finally stopped laughing. I kept my head forward, not looking at him. "I highly doubt that they actually think you're a witch." I saw him twirl his staff out of the corner of my eye. "After all, they'd have to believe in magic for that right?"

I actually cracked a smile at this because you know, he was right. I've been ridiculed my whole life for believing in magic, and now my tormentors either had the choice to call me a witch and believe in magic themselves, making them look like the crazy ones, or forget it ever happened and torment me like usual. It was kind of ironic.

The boy crouched down next to me and stared at me, eyes full of curiosity. "What?" I asked, starting to get a little nervous.

"You can see me," he breathed in awe. "You can actually see me."

I was starting to get a little freaked out, if I wasn't already. "Um, yeah. I can see you. Why wouldn't I? You're sitting right there in front of me." Great I was sitting in the middle of a lake with a nutcase.

Before I knew what happened, he jumped up and did a back flip in the air, then landed at the other end of the ice. _What?! _The ice wobbled back and forth and I latched my hands onto the edge to keep from falling off.

"YES!" He laughed. "All right!" He looked down at me. "Do you... actually believe in me?"

That question royally confused me. _Believe in him? I don't even know who he is._

When I didn't answer, he asked expectantly, "Do you believe in magic?"

I breathed in the cold air. _Magic,_ I remembered thinking. _is real. I can feel it in everything I come into contact with. Then why, _I looked at the boy who was leaning on his staff waiting for me to say something, anything. _can't I be so sure about them? _My mind started flashing the images of my drawings. The Sandman, The Tooth Fairy, The Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and... I scratched at the ice with my finger nails, the ice that had come from this boy.

I bit on my lower lip trying to keep myself from crying. I think I was going crazy after all, this couldn't be him. It just couldn't.

"Um," I started quietly. "What's your name?"

He looked at me with deep blue eyes and smiled. He looked truly happy, exited even. Why? He then held out a hand to me as he said, "It's Jack," he let out a low chuckle. "Jack Frost."

My entire body went completely numb and I couldn't even form words to respond. _Jack Frost...is...real?_

Before I could think anything else, he gripped my arm and pulled me to my feet. "You don't believe me do you," he said with a sigh.

As I steadied my feet on the wobbling ice, I pulled my arm out of his grip. "I don't know," I challenged. "Why should I?"

He stared at me with a blank expression before quietly turning to look back at the shore where we had ran from. I saw a flash of frustration in his eyes and heard it in his voice as he mumbled, "It shouldn't be gone already."

I tried to look but he quickly pressed his staff against my cheek to keep me from turning my head. "Trust me," he said more serious than I thought he could sound. "You don't want to look over there."

"And why is that?" I asked, starting to get annoyed.

"Because you'll freak out."

I shoved the stick away and looked to see that the ice path we had ran on to get here was almost completely gone. _How is that possible?_ I thought as panic rose within me. _It's too cold out here for ice to melt at all, let alone in ten minutes!_

My foot slipped and I grabbed onto the stick in the boy's hand to keep me upright. He started to laugh at me as I tried to get my balance back and he shoved his other hand into the pocket of his blue hoodie. The floating ice patch rocked back and forth softly but to me it felt like the sinking titanic. "I'm glad you find this funny!" I yelled at him, pissed off at how clam he looked. _Not the water, anything but the water. _I thought frantically, my knuckles turning white from gripping the stick too tight.

"I told you you'd freak out," he continued to laugh completely unaffected by the rocking ice. But then his eyes got wide and shot down at the ice by my feet.

I looked down and saw that the ice was melting not even two inches from where I was standing. I stepped back in surprise but I slipped again, my hands also slipping off the stick. The boy caught me and helped me get my balance back. "Damn it!" He mumbled, all humor out of his tone.

The ice was disappearing fast, almost two feet of the patch was already gone. I started to ask what we were going to do but the boy shoved his staff in my face before I could.

"Grab onto this and don't let go for anything, got it?" Not knowing what else I could do, I nodded and as soon as my hand tightened around the stick, the wind picked up, blowing even stronger than it had before. "If," he began. "you don't believe in me," he turned to face me and gave me a smirk although I could tell there was slight fear behind it. "Then this shouldn't work."

Before I could say anything the wind started blowing even more and the boy began to run, tugging me behind him as the edge of the ice neared. I screamed over the gale, "Are you crazy?"

"Don't worry," he yelled back. "have a little faith, I haven't killed you yet have I?" Then he jumped out over the water and I flew off of the ice right behind him.

I squeezed my eyes shut and a voice in my head repeated the words _Have faith._ "You'd better know what you're doing Jack Frost!"

A gust of wind plowed into me from bellow and that's when I realized that I wasn't falling. My eyes shot open and the lake was passing by underneath me. I could feel the wind pushing onto the bottoms of my gym shoes, the cold air cutting right through them to my feet. Wind smacked my face making my eyes water but I hardly cared. I was doing something that people only dreamed about, I was soaring in the open, freezing air, I was flying.

"Wow," I whispered, barely able to get the words out. _Well I did say anything._ My heart was pounding with fear but with excitement as well. I could've said that I was dreaming, because it did partially feel like one, but as the freezing wind brushed through my hair and down the neck of my jacket, that thought was dismissed.

I stared down in awe at the trees we were now passing over and a low chuckle next to me made me turn my head.

The boy, no, Jack Frost, laughed upon seeing the look I had on my face. "So you _do _believe." he laughed over the wind and I actually started to laugh too.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared, but at the same time I felt good. I was _flying_! And just like in everything else I've ever come into contact with, I felt magic. It came from the stick I still had gripped in my hand, the wind all around me and from the boy flying next to me. I didn't feel crazy anymore, I felt alive. I looked out over Greenlake, and I didn't think the town could look anymore beautiful.

"Ready to land?" Jack asked me.

I nodded a yes, but to tell the truth I really didn't. Logic took over though and I knew that if the people in town saw me flying in the sky, they're would be some problems.

A gust of wind hit us from the side and pushed Jack up onto his staff. He positioned his feet like a surfer would do on his surf board and laughed, "Hang on." He reached down with one of his hands and gripped the stick. The wind swirled us into a loop and I screamed as we went around. My plan for subtlety was officially ruined.

We zigzagged, dipped and arched in the sky like we were riding a roller coaster and in a way I guess we were. I was screaming the whole time mostly out of fear, but Jack was having the time of his life.

We dipped one last time and landed on the dying grass of my backyard. I fell to my knees on the ground and I almost wanted to kiss it. My hand still had a death grip on he staff. "You call that a landing?" I yelled at Jack. "I thought I was going to die!"

"Ah, but you didn't." He smiled.

I just looked at him, Jack Frost, he was standing right in front of me. All of this time I didn't know if he even existed and in the last hour, I had seen ice form out of nowhere and wind strong enough to make me fly. How could I not believe now?

I stood up on two wobbly feet and let go of the staff. "Thank you," I smiled at him, genuinely grateful for him saving me.

"You're welcome," he smiled back "Times two." When I shot him a confused look, he clarified. "You said thank you a couple days ago too, after I helped you with the wind at the school."

My eyes widened with surprise. _He...heard that?_ "That was you?"

He twirled his staff. "Who else would it be? Bigfoot?" After a long silence he reached up and scratched his head nervously. "And um, I should be thanking you," he said.

I shot him another confused look. "For what?"

"For believing in me."

I formed a small smile and started to walk toward my back porch. "I never said that I did," I teased, loud enough for him to hear. "I could just be losing my mind."

"Wow," he laughed. "if you're in this much denial I can only imagine how you'll react when-"

RING, RING, RING! My phone rang in my pocket and my blood ran cold, there was only one person that it could have been. I took it out and stared at it. The white numbers flashed on the screen as well as the contact name above it. "Dad," I whispered.

**My biggest concern with this was that I was afraid I would completely wreck Jack's character. To tell the truth, I honestly don't think this is the best chapter I've written so tell me if you think that anything seems off. The next chapter will be up sometime after the next few days. Thanks for reading ;) **


	6. Crazy

**Okay, guess what guys. I'VE FINALLY SEEN THE MOVIE! And let me tell you I LOVED IT! It just made me want to write even more. :)**

**Crazy**

Before the call could go to voicemail, I quickly pressed answer and held the phone to my ear, biting my thumb nervously. "Hello?"

To be honest, I had no idea what I expected him to say. A "hello" back? Maybe even a "how are you"? I haven't talked to him in so long that anything could have come out of his mouth. But in the end, I was still completely unprepared for what I actually heard. "I heard that you've been bullying some girl from your school." His voice was gruff, tired and angry. Yup, definitely my dad.

I almost dropped the phone in surprise and squeaked, "What?!"

His voice was unwavering. "The mother of one of the girls from your school just called me."

My brain would have been trying to figure out who's mom it was, but lets face it, I knew who it was. _Jess_, I hissed to myself.

"She told me that you've been scaring her daughter. And making fun of her with the drawings in one of your sketch books."

I tilted my head back and cursed myself. I knew giving Jess the sketch book would come back to haunt me, but of course I wasn't thinking about that back then.

"I also heard that you had told this girl that you were a witch and that you threatened to cast a spell on her. Is that true?"

_Okay, that's a new one!_ From what just happened at the lake, I get where she got the idea that I was a witch. _So much for hoping she would brush it off to keep from looking crazy._ But Jack did that, not me.

Plus, I've never threatened her in my life! If anyone was being threatened here it was me every time I ran into her! My fading bruises were proof enough, but then again my dad would actually have to _see _me to notice.

"Look dad," I started, trying to keep my voice even so that he could hear in my voice I wasn't lying. "You have to let me explain what's going on I-"

"I am very disappointed in you Cassandra!" He yelled suddenly, making me jump. His voice was so controlled until now that could barely tell if he was even mad before. "Tormenting some poor, innocent girl like that for no good reason! I thought I raised you better than that!"

_Raised me?_ I felt anger sparking but I bit my tongue and held it back, knowing that yelling back at him would do no good and just make me look more guilty.

"And what is the deal with casting spells on people?"

"It's not what you-"

"Are you involved in a cult? Are you studying witchcraft or something? He paused to take a breath before continuing his rant. "I can't believe this, I have worked my fingers to the bone so that you could have anything you could ever need or want. Then you turn around and do something like this?"

"Dad-"

"You're grounded young lady! Grounded until you stop all of this nonsense!"

"Dad," I whispered, scared that if I talked any louder I would start to cry. I was talking to my dad for the first time in weeks, and it had to be like this. "What do you want me to do?"

"Stop acting crazy!"

That word. It was that damn word again. It echoed over and over in my head, sinking in. _Crazy...so my dad thinks I'm crazy too...the only family I have left...thinks I'm crazy._

I laughed. But it wasn't a good, happy one, it was a low, dark one. I even surprised myself as my anger took over me. All I wanted was for him to understand, to see that I wasn't the cause of this chaos.

"Okay dad," my voice was low, almost a growl. "I'm grounded. Big. Freaking. Deal! You want to ground me? Say it to my face like a man and like a father, instead of over the phone like a coward!"

"Don't you-"

"It's my turn now!" I yelled into the phone. I was tired of him not listening, tired of him thinking he could understand everything that happens in my life without him even being there to see it, and tired of being ignored. "Your inflated ego may not want you to hear this, but you don't know anything! You get a call from the mom of the girl that torments _me_, and you automatically push the blame onto me without even letting me talk! This may be hard to listen to dad seeing as you _love_ to be right, but _I'm_ the one being bullied. I have bruises decorating my entire body, and even a black eye from that 'poor, innocent' girl you talked about before. I guess you wouldn't know that though, seeing as you haven't actually _seen_ me in months!"

I took a breath but I still couldn't gain my composure. "As for what I need, I don't need expensive things, my sketch books, or anything like that. I need a father. I've always needed a father, but when mom died, I lost both of my parents, not just one."

Another breath, this one calming me down more than the last but my voice was still dripping with anger and disgust. "But who cares what I think, who cares what I have to say. I'm Crazy Cassie. The girl that's judged just for wanting to believe in something good. If that makes me crazy, so be it, I don't care anymore. But you need to get off of your high horse and stop thinking that I'm the source of all the problems. Get this through your skull _dad_. I. Am. DONE!"

I ended the call and threw the phone into the dying bushes bordering the porch before practically kicking the back door open and stomping up to my room. I slammed the door and pressed my back to it, sliding down until I was sitting on the floor. My arms wrapped around my legs and I couldn't hold back tears anymore. _I'm alone, I'm all alone._

That's when I felt cold wind brush against me and heard a sarcastic, "Well, that was rough."

I looked up to see Jack, staring at me as he leaned back against the sill of the open window he probably came in from. I had completely forgotten that he was even there once the phone rang. He had heard everything. "Yeah," I let out a hollow laugh as a trail of tears slipped down my face. "That's an understatement."

In contrast to the tone of his voice, Jack's face showed no emotion. I saw him remove his eyes from me to look around my room. He was looking at my drawings. The things that I held most dear to me and what kept my belief alive. When I drew I saw them in my head as real as anything else I could hear, see and touch. Just like how I could see Jack standing ten feet away.

I had told my dad that I didn't care if believing made me crazy. But I really did. I guess all I've ever really wanted was to just be accepted. And as much as I loved and treasured my drawings, at the same time I wished I never drew them because then maybe, if I kept my belief to myself, then I would be able to live a life where I was accepted by people. I dipped my head down again in my arms. _But that's just a "what if". _

"You drew all of these?"

"Huh?" I jerked my head up and saw Jack staring wide-eyed at my walls. "Um, yeah."

He walked over to my desk and looked at the open sketch book sitting there. His eyes got even wider. "Is that...me?"

I could feel my face turning a little red because lets face it, I had no idea that Jack Frost would ever be looking at my drawing of Jack Frost. It was a little awkward to say the least. Plus, I don't think anyone has looked at my drawings before and not ripped them up afterwards. "Uh, yeah, I saw you a couple days ago in the town square and I was kind of compelled to draw so..."

"That's awesome!" He beamed and picked up the sketch book to get a closer look. "It looks just like me," He laughed. "cocky grin and all."

"So you admit that you're cocky?" I asked raising an eyebrow, barely noticing that my tears had stopped.

"Don't tell Bunny that," he smirked. "He thinks I'm oblivious to it."

_Bunny?_

"You're name's Cassie right?" He sat on the ground a couple feet in front of me. I saw a thin layer of ice form where he sat. "Or is it Crazy Cassie like you said outside?"

I decided to counter his question with a question of my own. "Why didn't the girls notice that you were the one who kicked up the wind?"

He sat silent for a moment before saying, "Because they can't see me. As far as I know of, only a few people can."

"Why is that?"

"I'm the spirit of winter, stories have been told about me for centuries. But when it comes down to people believing in those stories, they pass me off as nothing but a myth. Only those who believe in me, can see me. It's as simple as that." He smiled. "That's why you can see me, because you believe in me."

I laughed. "Well, believing has been kind of hard, let me tell you. Especially because I never even knew for sure that you existed. To tell the truth, I've believed in you're magic this whole time, not specifically you."

"And they call you crazy because of that?" He raised an eyebrow. "That's pretty stupid."

I sighed. "You're telling me."

He stared at me for a long moment before finally asking me, "Do_ you_ think you're crazy? For believing in me that is."

I thought about it, but no matter how many times I had told myself I was going nuts or that things would be easier if it didn't believe, I just... "No," I told him. "I don't think I'm crazy. After all, you did take me flying and I'm completely positive that screaming until you're light headed definitely clears your head."

Jack smiled, "Then that's all that matters isn't it?" I smiled a reply and something seemed to catch Jack's eye. He stood up, hopped onto my bed and looked at a drawing on the wall above it.

I tilted my head to see which one it was and saw that it was one of the Easter Bunny. Although, this particular picture was just really of an ordinary, gray bunny with the title "Easter Bunny?" written across the top.

I saw Jack cover his mouth with his hand to try to suppress a laugh but it wasn't working too well. "Hey," He chuckled uncontrollably. "Do you think I could take this one? I know someone who would get a real kick out of it."

"Um, sure. Go ahead." As soon as I finished saying that a gust of wind came into the room making all of the papers flap against the walls.

I looked at Jack to see what was up, and he had gone completely still. Almost like a statue or in I guess his case, an ice sculpture. He quickly folded the drawing and shoved it into the pocket of his hoodie. Then jumped off of the bed and went to the window. "Sorry Cassie," He said, all laughter completely gone from his voice. "I have to go, something...came up."

No, that wasn't right. Something was wrong. I remembered the strong wind that was on and off for the past two weeks. If that was Jack's doing then he's been in town, and if he's been here then... "Jack! One more question. If you've been here in Greenlake, how come you haven't made it snow?"

I could see him tense up before saying, "Because I can't." and flying out the window.

**Once again, let me know if anything seems off to you guys. I value your opinions and they make my writing even better. ;) Stay tuned for the next chapter and if you haven't seen the movie yet, I suggest you do that, it's worth it. **


	7. The Dark

**I'm sorry that this took so long to update (I've had a lot to do lately) but at least it's up now! :) Warning: this chapter gets a little...darker than my other ones. But I'm sure it isn't even that bad. I'll probably go back and change some stuff later but right now I'm too lazy -_-'. Lol, R & R! ;)**

**The Dark**

I sprinted over to the window. "Jack!" I yelled after him, but he was already gone. Leaving nothing but a soft, cold breeze in his wake.

_He...can't make it snow? _I looked up at the gray sky and felt a surge of panic. _Something's wrong, _I thought. _Really wrong._

My gaze shifted to the drawing on my desk. I had drawn Jack with his staff over his shoulder and one hand in his hoodie pocket. His mouth was turned up into a smirk and he had one eyebrow raised. How I was able to get such an accurate description of him from just one glance two days ago, I had no idea.

But this wasn't the look he left with, he looked nervous, worried, even a little bit scared. He had the same expression back at the lake too, when he saw the ice melting, the only ice I've ever seen melt in twenty-five degree weather.

"What's happening Jack?" I whispered to the sky. The wind howled a response to me and brushed against my face.

The house phone suddenly rang, making me jump and my heart beat quicken. I ran to the kitchen, picked it up off of the base and looked at the screen. _Dad, _I thought bitterly. _Why the hell is he calling me now? This is probably the most he's ever called in one day._

I didn't even let the voicemail pick up before I pressed talk then pressed end right away. There was no way I was listening to a word that came out of his mouth, _especially_ over the phone. If he wanted to talk to me, he could come do it in person. A couple minutes later he called again and I did the exact same thing. _Ugh, _I thought as the phone rang for a third time. _I need to get out of here._

I grabbed my backpack with my sketch book and my pencils then walked back out into the exhilarating cold. I was already used to it though from standing near my open bedroom window. At that moment, the cold felt more comfortable then even my own home.

I turned and walked to the town square, where I then sat on one of the benches near the town Christmas tree. The cold seeped from the bench and through my jeans, making me shiver.

When I got comfortable, I took out the sketch book and looked up at the gigantic, now decorated tree towering above me. I loved this view. It made me feel happy, exited and even reminded me of waking up on Christmas morning, to see all of the presents under the tree. That...was the first taste of true magic I've ever had, and I'll never forget it.

I took out a pencil and I drew with these things in mind: searching my backyard to find colorful eggs hidden in the most random places, remembering a good dream I had and not being able to wait to tell my parents, and even losing a tooth only to wake up and find a quarter in its place under my pillow. Then lets not forget watching the snow silently fall outside and making the wait worth it when I jumped head first into it. I didn't know why I was thinking of all of those things right then, but it made my heart feel lighter, the way magic always seemed to do.

When I finished the drawing, I tore it out of the book and held it up to examine my work. I'm usually better at drawing people than objects, but I had to say this one was actually pretty good. The tree had strand after strand of multi-colored lights, topped with sparkling garland and ornaments, then the big, shinning star all the way at the top. I had even colored it in to add to the effect that the tree itself gave off.

The only thing that was different from the original was what I had put under the tree. Presents. Five, different colored, presents. Each of them had one word written on them and they were what I thought children should never have to live without: dreams, hope, wonder, memories and fun. They're the gifts we all deserve.

I smiled at my creation as I stood up to stretch my stiff muscles. I had no idea how long I was sitting there, but it was long enough to make my body start to go numb.

A strong wind suddenly kicked up and my paper flew out of my hand. I grabbed for it but it was already out of my reach. _Damn it, not again!_ I started to run for it but it always managed to stay about a foot in front of me. _If Jack is doing this on purpose, I swear to God I'm going to stick him in a heater!_

The chase took me to a border of trees, leading into the forest. I stopped, hesitant to run in because the sun was already setting. My paper flapped and blew past the trees like it was taunting me, then started to disappear as it got deeper in. I knew I shouldn't go in but I wanted that paper back, so I pushed through the trees and continued to run after it.

I managed to catch up to the paper and lunge for it but it was like someone was jerking it away from me. _That tares it. He's going in a heater._

A few steps later I lunged for it again, but my foot caught on a tree root and I fell on my face. Grimacing at the stinging pain, I looked up to see my paper fly away and disappear into the woods. I wasn't getting it back _now_. _Damn._

I sat up on the twig covered ground and then realized just how little I could actually see. The trees blocked out most of the sunlight in the middle of the day, so during sunset it was much darker. The forest had a very eerie feeling to it when it was like this.

I grabbed onto the trunk of the tree next to me and I used it to pull myself up. My leg was hurting me but I could tell it wasn't broken or anything, I just had a big cut and it was bleeding. I poked a finger through the rip in my jeans and hissed as I accidentally toughed the wound. As I steadied my feet, I cursed myself for being stupid enough to run into a dark forest for a drawing. I could have just re-drawn it.

I sighed and looked back in the direction from where I came, or at least where I thought I came. It was so dark already that no matter which direction I looked, the trees all looked the same. _Great, _I thought bitterly. _This day just keeps getting better._

As I started walking back in the direction I thought I came from, the air around me started to feel different. It was crisp and cold when I ran in, and it was still cold if not colder, but now the air wasn't thin by any means. It had started to become very thick and muggy, and started to give me the feeling that it was pressing down on me.

The darkness around me did the same, it seemed to creep towards me like it was hunting me, only adding to my growing anxiety. _It's just getting dark, _I told myself. _There's nothing there._

The moisture in the air made my lungs feel heavier with every breath until I was nearly gasping for air. I started to feel light-headed and leaned into a tree, hoping that once I did so I would be able to breathe again. This isn't what happened though.

I started to cough violently and cupped my hands to my mouth, I could feel my lungs constricting like they were trying to purge something out of them. I leaned forward and placed one had on the tree for support, the other hand was still plastered to my mouth. My throat was burning as I let out a final cough and felt saliva splatter against my hand, my lungs instantly felt lighter. As I took my hand away from my mouth, something wasn't right. My hand felt heavy, just like my lungs just had and even in the almost nonexistent light I could still tell that it wasn't spit in my hand. The substance was thick, already seeming to harden against my skin, and looked jet black.

I let out a scream and pressed my hand to the tree to try to rub the substance off, but it wouldn't work. Whatever was on my hand felt like plaster and if anything it was gluing me to the tree. I jerked both hands away, looked down at them and screamed again when I saw that there was more black gook on my other hand too. The air was still as thick as pea soup and my lungs had started to feel heavy again.

My head shot around looking for somewhere to go but I couldn't even see the outlines of the trees anymore, all I saw was black around me. However, as I looked down at my feet, I could still see the outlines of twigs and leaves scattered along the ground. _How is this happening?_

My head shot back up to look at where the trees should have been and a new thought crossed my mind followed by yet another surge of panic. The black surrounding me looked almost...solid...almost... like a wall.

I ran forward with my hand outstretched, waiting for myself to just run right through the trees, but I ended up colliding with what felt like a vertical wall of mud. My arm completely sunk in and the harder I tried to pull myself out, the deeper my arm went. I let out a shriek that even I didn't know I could produce. The black mud oozed and started to travel further up my arm and even over my shoulder.

I began to hyperventilate, only being interrupted by coughing fits as my lungs continued to fill up with the black liquid. I was gasping violently for air but all that served to do was make me cough. My legs gave out underneath me and I slumped forward, my arm still in the wall. The mud was still creeping across my body, it pressed against my chest and was suffocating me even more.

My eye lids started to droop shut and I felt so unbearably cold. My legs gave out and I slumped to the ground, the leaves and twigs cracking and crinkling underneath me. The arm still in the wall felt like it would rip off under my weight but my mind was already so far gone that I didn't care.

I could feel my conscious mind slipping away from the lack of oxygen, the darkness consuming me... taking me somewhere I knew I didn't want to be. _Is... this where I'll die? Like this?_

There was a loud cracking noise as I felt my arm suddenly break free. The rest of my rag doll of a body fell to the ground but I managed to get one eye open.

"Cassie!" A familiar male voice yelled.

I looked back in the direction of the wall and Jack was standing there, light from his staff illuminating his worried looking face. In the light I could also see a mist floating around Jack, a black mist, the wall that was consuming me was shattered to pieces at his feet.

Jack ran over to me and helped me sit up. At his cold touch, I was able to get a little bit firmer grasp on consciousness. He held me by the shoulders and looked deep into my eyes. "Are you hurt? Cassie?"

I tried to answer him, but I couldn't get enough air into my lungs. I fought to keep my eyes open as I lifted my heavy arm and pointed a finger at my throat, hoping to God that he understood me.

Jack looked around at the black mist and let out a noise that sounded almost like a growl. His voice was calm though when he told me, "It's going to be okay, I promise. Just don't fall asleep okay?" I coughed a reply and Jack raised his hand, touching his fingers to the base of my throat. "Just relax, all I'm going to do is loosen it up so you can cough it out. This'll be really cold but bear with it."

Before I could even think of replying, a burst of blistering cold air seemed to shoot down my throat and into my lungs. I could feel the black liquid in them freezing solid and when I started to take in more short raspy breaths, it was like I was breathing rocks. Jack then stopped the flow of air and as my body heat began to warm up the frozen mass, I could feel it begin to crack into pieces. Sharp pieces.

I leaned over and coughed violently, the shards of ice and black gook coming out after painfully scratching up my lungs and windpipe. When all of it was out, I rubbed my aching throat and let out a very scratchy, "Thank you." Jack didn't say anything and grabbed my arm that was covered in the black mud. He again froze it and it shattered off of me, all of it. Then, taking me by the hand he pulled me to my feet. I was still weak but being able to breathe again was slowly starting to bring my strength back.

"We need to get out of here." Jack said, darkly. "Before it-"

The black mist started to swirl around us and before I could react Jack started running forward, still gripping my hand. We sprinted out of the entrance Jack had made but as we continued to run I kept falling all over myself. I glanced back behind me to find that the mist was chasing us! It was actually chasing us!

"Damn," I heard Jack whisper under his breath. I could feel that he was trying to pick the wind up... but it wouldn't get very strong.

Giving up on his first plan, Jack reached into his hoodie and pulled out a red and white snow globe. He said something to it then threw it out in front of us. A huge rainbow colored hole opened in the air and I was about to scream when Jack yelled, "Don't let go! Just keep running!" And we ran into the vortex. Then darkness consumed me again. My eyes closed, and I fainted.

**I like I said before, I'll probably change some stuff later. Probably just some small things but... Idk. And I think you guys are going to like where I'm going with it ;). Thanks for all of the awesome reviews and keep leaving them! :) **


	8. Where Am I

**I'm sooooooo sorry that this took so long. But to make up for it, I made it SUPER long :). Thank you for all of the awesome reviews and support. R & R and enjoy ;)**

**Where Am I**

_Where am I? _I thought as I floated in the sea of my own subconscious. It was dark but I wasn't scared, I was actually very warm, like I had a blanket wrapped around me.

I could hear faint muffled voices all around me, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. Part of me wanted to just fall back into the warm darkness and sleep more, but I wanted to know what they were talking about. As I slowly pulled myself out of my unconscious state, the voices began to get clearer.

"Why did you bring the child here?" boomed an angry Russian man's voice. It was so loud that I would've jumped in surprise, though I don't think that I was awake enough for that yet.

"It's not like I had any other options!" yelled a voice that sounded so familiar, yet I couldn't place it. "She would have been killed if I didn't help her get away!"

_'Her'? _My mind processed. _Are they talking about me? And 'escape'? Escape from where, I don't remember..._

"Shhhhh!" Came a voice from above me somewhere. "Be quiet you guys, you'll wake her up!" It sounded like a woman's voice. Another wave of warmth washed over me and it took me a few seconds to realize that a small, warm hand was resting on my forehead.

The other voices continued their argument.

"You know that's not what he meant. Couldn't ya have just flown away mate?" asked a new voice. It had an Australian accent and a dripped of annoyance.

There was no reply to this question, only silence for what seemed like an eternity.

"Jack," The Russian man's voice was calmer now. "what is happening?"

_Jack? Where have I heard that name before? Ugh, I don't remember. Can I just go back to sleep now? _I could feel my eyelids twitch, but they felt as heavy as cinder blocks.

After another moment of silence, the boy I guessed was named Jack quietly mumbled, "...it's nothing I can't handle."

"Pfft, do ya honestly think we'll believe that mate?" Came the Australian voice again. "I mean, look at yourself. You look like a ghost of your former self." He paused. "No pun intended."

"Shut it Cotton Tail!"

"Then tell us-," his voice was cut short by a string of sniffing noises. "Wait," _sniff, sniff, sniff. _"I smell..." _Sniff, sniff._ "blood."

I heard a sharp intake of breath and a barely audible, "Cassie?" before I felt a slight cold wind washing over me. After a few seconds, the boy's voice said, "She has a cut on her leg."

_A cut... when the hell did I get a cut? I don't even feel anythi-_

A pair of hands as cold as ice touched the bare skin of my leg. My eyes shot open and I was staring directly into the pink eyes of a woman... with green, yellow and blue colored feathers bordering her face. "W-woah!" I backpedaled away until my back slammed against something hard, I was still on the ground.

I turned around and saw a gigantic wooden pillar. When I turned back around the ice cold hand covered my eyes and I heard a sigh. "That went well."

_That voice_, I thought as I shook off the remains of my sleep invoked memory loss. How could I forget it? It belonged to the boy that has saved me many times now. Jack Frost. I remembered everything: chasing after my picture in the woods, getting caught in the dark, nearly getting killed by some kind of black mist and mud, Jack saving me and pulling us into a portal to escape. _Damn, what a night._

"Jack, if you don't explain in the next five seconds," I threatened, trying to sound more in control than I knew I was. "I'm going to go completely loco on your ass."

I heard a laugh. "I like her already." The Australian voice mocked.

"Can it kangaroo," Jack didn't sound amused. "You know how you draw those pictures of the Sandman, Toothfairy, Santa Claus, Easter Kanga-um, Bunny, and me right?"

"Yeah."

"And you know that I'm real right?"

"Clearly."

"Well..."

I pulled his hand away from my face and my mind completely froze when I saw who was all standing in the room. Other than Jack kneeling in front of me, there was the woman I saw before with the pink eyes and tri-colored feathers. I looked a little closer at her and saw that she seemed to have translucent wings fluttering behind her back. Then I saw a gigantic man with a white beard and tattoos on both of his arms, his eyes were wide as he looked at me. Next to him, only coming up to about the other man's lower thigh, was a smaller man who looked like he could have been made out of gold and... a bunny? A bunny that was taller than me and was walking upright on two legs. _Okay...,_ my mind slowly processed. _...I think I'm hallucinating..._

"Jack," I started with a voice that was so neutral, I even surprised myself. "Did you happen to slip me any drugs?"

Jack paused in surprise. "Did I slip you any- When the hell could I have possibly slipped you drugs?"

I took a couple deep breaths and let it sink in as I stood up. "Okay," I said in a tiny, barely audible voice. "Just checking."

"They're real Cassie." I turned my gaze to Jack, he smiled and continued. "We're all real, we have been all along."

The tall man with the white beard walked over and smiled down at me as he put out his hand. "I am Nicholas St. North." His voice must've been the Russian one I heard before. "What is yours?"

"C-Cassie," I stammered, not knowing how to act, my eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "Cassie Sparks."

"Ah," a glitter appeared in his eyes. "Cassandra Jay Sparks, I know who you are."

"W-what?"

He knelt down and put his massive hands on my shoulders. "You are the child that never stopped believing. And the child that will never stop seeing."

"Seeing what?"

His smile got wider. "The world for what it truly is." He moved aside and I was looking at all of the others, Jack was over there with them as well. He seemed to be arguing with the tall bunny and the winged woman was trying to break them up, the little, gold man was calmly drinking something out of a small cup.

"We are Guardians," St. Nick grinned at them. "We protect the children of the world. For as long as they believe in us, we will protect them with our lives. Them, and you as well." The four others gathered around me and St. Nick said, "We all know who you are, we have seen your pictures after all. You are quite the artist, are you not?"

My eyes widened in horror and I swear I could've died from embarrassment. "W-what? When?"

"Oh yeah that reminds me," Jack said, sticking a hand in his hoodie pocket and pulling out the piece of paper he took from my room. He waved it in front of the bunny's face and chuckled, "Here, present from Cassie." _Oh, no._

The rabbit took it, unfolded it and his face said it all. "You have gotta be kidding me." He didn't look like a happy bunny. Jack burst out laughing and fell to the ground. "Did _you_ tell er to draw this!" He yelled over Jacks hysterical laughter.

"You know Bunny," He said as he wiped a tear from his eye. "The funniest thing about it is that I didn't." Then burst back into a laughing fit. "You look so _cute _in that picture!"

"Shut yer trap!"

"Um, Saint Nic-"

"Call me North," he smiled. "And do not worry, they do this often." He turned to the other two people and said, "You know the Toothfairy and Sandman as well I assume."

Golden sand appeared over the short man's head and created the image of a sketch book and a pencil and he attempted unsuccessfully to draw with it. I couldn't help but laugh and he silently smiled up at me.

I then heard a sharp gasp and the woman hovering in mid-air said, "Oh my goodness!" She zipped over to me and stared at me, not my eyes though, my mouth? Next thing I knew she had her fingers pulling my lips away from my teeth. "You have beautiful teeth!" She gasped again and a bunch of creatures that looked like smaller versions of her circled around. "Look at that bicuspid, and that molar! They aren't as white as Jack's but for a human they are absolutely stunning!"

I pushed her away and tried not to sound freaked out when I said, "Thank you?"

I was surprised. They all looked a little bit different from what I had imagined but there was no denying it, it was them, the very physical embodiments of magic itself. My mind flashed back to my drawings, like it seemed to do a lot lately, and Jack's words kept echoing in my head. _We're all real._

I didn't know how I felt. Surprised? Freaked out? Overwhelmed? No, it wasn't any of those. I didn't feel shocked by this at all actually, probably because deep down I had always known. I had told myself that I only believed in the magic that they brought and stood for, but after meeting Jack I had to question even that. This magic that we feel as kids... is too strong to come from only stories.

I took a breath and a smile started to crack on my face. A laugh escaped my lips, a strong, happy, joy filled laugh that even I didn't know I could produce. I leaned over and wrapped my arms around my aching sides, gasping for air.

"C-Cassie?" Jack asked, seeming somewhat freaked out himself. The look on his face said, 'Oh no, she's cracked.' "Are you okay?"

When I finished, I stood up straight and just smiled. _They're real, _I thought. _So that means the magic I've felt all of this time, and even now... it isn't a lie. _

"Never better," I said so softly it was pretty much a whisper.

Then I remembered North's words from before, _Why did you bring the child here?_ They were arguing about me coming here.

"Um, North?" He looked at me. "I heard you yelling at Jack before for bringing me here. But you shouldn't be mad at him, he saved me so-"

He put his hand on my head and chuckled. "It is alright. That is not why I am angry with him. It is more than that." He then looked over at Jack and his eyes grew so serious it was scary. "But now back to the business." I saw Jack stiffen like a board, like he knew he had failed at changing the subject. "You must tell us what is happening Jack." He put his hands on Jack's shoulders. "If the children are in danger, you must tell us!"

"The kids-," Jack locked eyes with me and lowered his head. "aren't in danger." I could barely hear him.

"We don't believe y- Hey!" The Easter Bunny yelled as Jack got out of North's grip and walked over to me.

He grabbed me by the wrist and started to pull me in the opposite direction. "Come on Cassie, you still need to treat that cut." His voice was a low mumble.

I looked back and the others were staring at Jack with the most worried looking faces I had ever seen. Even Bunny looked like he was concerned.

Jack led me down a long hallway and when we got far enough away, I thought it would be okay to ask him my own questions. "What was that thing chasing us in the forest?" I saw him twitch but other than that he showed no sign that he had even heard me. "Jack-" A gasp escaped my lips as I realized what I was feeling, or what I wasn't feeling. I looked down at his wrist clamped around mine and whispered in shock, "Jack you're...warm."

His hand dropped mine like it had burned him and he replied a little too quickly, "You must be _really_ cold then." For the next few minutes, we walked in silence, leading me into a room that looked just like a standard hospital room.

"There's an infirmary here?"

"Yeah," Jack said as he started to rummage through cabinets looking for disinfectant. "North's elves kinda... injure themselves a lot."

As he was saying this I saw two small creatures that I guessed were the elves, walk through the door carrying another elf on a small stretcher. The elf was wrapped in Christmas lights and would twitch every couple seconds.

Jack walked right past them without even seeming to notice and told me to sit down on one of the wooden chairs in the room. I did and he pulled up my pant leg until my long cut was fully showing.

As he dabbed away with the disinfectant, there was no doubt in my mind, his hands were defiantly warm. "So am I going to get answers," I started. "or do I just get to _guess_ what's happening in my home town?" I paused and looked him dead in the eyes. "And what's happening to you."

I didn't know why he would be hiding something like this. 'The kids aren't in danger'? That's crap, and he knows it too. My experience in the woods was proof enough. That's probably why he was kneeling in front of me, looking like a whipped puppy. I was starting to get pissed off. Whatever was happening, it was far from being harmless. Plus I was worried about him too, something was happening to him, he shouldn't be like this. Yet he won't. Freaking. Tell anyone!

"North told you right," he started quietly as he gently kept dabbing at my wound. "All of us are Guardians, we're supposed to keep kids safe." He placed a band-aid over the cut and continued. "So in order to keep you safe, I _can't_ tell you."

And thus the fuse was lit. I stood up, grabbed him by the collar of his hoodie and jerked him to his feet. Then growled angrily in his face, "You can't tell me? Fine! But there are four other people in the other room that you _can _tell!" I started to shake him. "And how the hell is keeping me in the dark keeping me safe? That doesn't even make any sense! I got attacked by black mist, and the last time I checked, that doesn't happen often! I almost died and I _still_ don't even get to know what tried to kill me?"

I stopped shaking him and he said sadly, "I'm sorry."

_Ugh! This is infuriating! _"What the hell are you so afraid of?"

For the first time I saw life flick back into his eyes, he clenched his staff in one hand and he yelled back at me. "I'm not afraid of anything! Not that black mist, and defiantly not you, so stop yelling at me and get out of my face!"

There was no way I was backing down. "Oh yeah? Why don't you make me then?" He stood as still as a statue, his anger was perfectly clear on his face. Yet he wouldn't do anything. After a few minutes of silence I had calmed down a little. I was still angry, but this was getting us nowhere.

"Back at the lake," I started. "the ice was melting in twenty-five degree whether, you said that you can't make it snow, I saw you try to fly away back in the woods but you couldn't and now..." I took my hand away from his hoodie and put it over his forehead. "you're warm, at least warmer than you were before." He looked away, refusing to make eye contact with me. "Jack, are you losing your powers?"

He pried himself away and he threw up his arms. "Okay fine, you win. I am. Are you happy now?" I just looked at him. "I can't make ice, I can't fly, and I can't even make it snow anymore! You see this staff?" He held it up. "Every single day I feel it's power draining, _my_ power draining from me too. I can't stop it, I don't even know how that thing is doing it."

"So that black mist is taking your powers?"

He paused. "Yeah." His expression softened and I could see the pain and fatigue in his eyes. His powers were his everything, and they were disappearing. "I got to Greenlake a couple of weeks ago, and I was planning to actually make it snow a few days later. But before that could happen... that mist started rising up from the forest." I felt my eyes widen. When was this, the first time I've_ ever_ seen it was earlier. "It had a mind of its own and came right at me. I fought it off but ever since then my powers have just been draining, my ability to make it snow was the first thing to go." He laughed grimly. "I've been in Greenlake for the past two weeks because I thought that I could handle it. Find out what it is."

We sat in silence for a few moments before I quietly asked, "Then why won't you tell the others about it?"

He sighed like he really didn't want to say it but I shot him a look and he talked. "Look, I've actually just become a Guardian recently. All of the time up until then I was alone, the only one I could rely on was myself. That's why I don't want them to see me like this. They have high expectations for me, I just don't want to disappoint them."

_Wait, wait, wait. I think this sounds familiar. _"You don't want them to think you're weak." He nodded. I rolled my eyes. "Wow, you know for someone who's centuries old, you still act like a child."

"What did you-"

"Do _you_ think you're weak Jack?"

His eyes widened and he waited a few seconds before answering. "No," he said calmly. "I don't."

I couldn't help but smile, we were the same, exactly the same. "Then isn't that all that matters?"

I saw a smile crack on his hard face and he began to laugh. "I wonder where you got that from."

I laughed too. "So do I." When we stopped I said, "And besides, I don't think that you could ever disappoint them." I remembered the looks on their faces as Jack and I were walking away. They were so worried about him, you could see it. And I don't think they were worried about what Jack could do for _them_, they were worried about _him_. "You guys are close."

"Close? What do you mean close?" Jack crossed his arms and looked away. "They're my co-workers."

_Yeah, yeah._ I thought.

Then I heard the floorboards creak and before I could even think about saying anything, the door burst open. North tumbled to the ground with Bunny next to him, the Toothfairy and Sandman were hovering in mid-air behind them.

Jack put his head in his hands and mumbled, "Oh no."

"Jack!" North bellowed as he quickly got up and pulled Jack up into a bear hug, tears were practically streaking down his face. "Is not good, your powers are kaput. But do not worry, we will get them back! And then you will be usual self again! We will come up with plan right now!"

"I-I get it," Jack gasped for air. "Now put me down!"

The rest of them gathered around, their faces all decorated with relief, well except for Bunny who just had a small smile. I was almost a little jealous of Jack. He had friends who deeply cared about him, they looked almost like a family. Like they belonged. I guess I just wished that I could find something like that one d-

"Cassie?" Jack turned around and looked at me, they were all standing about ten feet away. "What are you standing over there for? You coming?"

A smile crept back to my lips and I just felt overwhelmingly happy. "Yeah." Then I ran to join them.

**So what do you guys think? I wanted to make the moment where they all met happy as well as serious. I hope you guys liked it! :)**


	9. Look

**Again, sorry for the wait you guys! **Here is the plan :)

**Look**

"Look, I'm only going to explain this one more time." Jack leaned back against a wooden pillar and crossed his arms, an annoyed scowl on his face. "I went to Greenlake and two days later that mist started evaporating out of the forest, it started to wrap around me and suffocate me so I froze it. Ever since then my powers have been draining." He wiped a hand across his forehead in frustration.

"How exactly did it suffocate you?" Tooth asked in a worried tone as she hovered close to Jack's face.

Jack glanced apologetically over at me, like he felt terrible for letting me get attacked, and said, "If it gets close enough to you, I guess you start to breathe it in... It-"

"It starts to collect in your lungs," I interrupted, trying to show him that I wasn't afraid and that I didn't blame him for it. "And then it begins to solidify... until your lungs are so heavy, that you can't breathe."

They all looked over at me with worried faces, similar to the ones they were giving Jack before, and I smiled. "But at least we know how to get rid of it." Their looks changed to confusion and I jerked a thumb in Jack's direction. "Jack got it out of my lungs by freezing it and I coughed it up."

"So its weakness is Jack's ice?" North processed, one hand on his chin as he concentrated. "Jack, are you positive that you are the only one that got attacked?"

"Yeah... well I mean other than Cassie. She's the only one from the town that got attacked. I made sure of it. I don't think it's ever even gone into the town."

"Hm... this is strange."

"So what do we do?" Bunny piped in, arms crossed and looking tense.

The question was followed by silence as we all thought of a possible plan of action. I wanted to help in any way that I possibly could. It _was _my town that was falling victim after all, my home, and no matter how annoying the people living in it were, none of them deserved to experience what I did. I turned around and looked up at a gigantic globe spinning on its axis. Millions of tiny, golden lights flashed on the continents and I felt my eyes widen in awe. _Those must be the-_

A gasp from one of the Guardians made me turn back. "Idea!" North shouted as he pointed a finger at Bunny. "We will watch over town!"

"Wait, you mean like surveillance?" Jack asked. "I told you, I've been in Greenlake for two weeks, and I've seen nothing that could be helpful."

"Ah," North turned to him with a smug grin. "But you were all by yourself."

My jaw dropped and I asked, "Are you suggesting that _all five of you _go to Greenlake?"

"Yes!"

"I'm hoping that means you all won't be going at the same time." I said nervously. That would be bad, very, very bad. Most of the little kids probably still believed in them, and if they saw them walking the streets... I didn't want to think about it...

"Why not all go at same time?"

My heart sank. "Because doesn't 'surveillance' mean that you would have to stay there and watch? And there are probably a bunch of kids that would see you guys. Besides, where would you all stay?"

Jack put a hand under his chin and gave me a sly grin. "Your house?"

I nearly fainted again. No, no no no NO! "Never gonna happen Frost!"

He put up his hands in surrender. "Just kidding!" He squeaked in surprise.

North started to laugh. "Very good Jack! It is good plan!"

I shot him a death glare and growled, "No, it is not!" I was NOT letting all five Guardians have free reign of my house! Whether I thought they were cool or not had nothing to do with letting them wreck my stuff! ...Or see my drawings...

"Very well, very well," North chuckled, grinning at me. "We will do something else."

"Like?" I asked suspiciously, crossing my arms.

"Like take shifts," he beamed.

I put my head in one hand and shook it. _Well, at least they're not_ completely_ invading my unsuspecting town..._ "If you guys are going to watch over Greenlake," I started. "At least let me go with one of you guys. I can show you where I got attacked and-"

"You will stay here."

I blinked. "What?"

"You cannot go back home," North explained, all cheerfulness suddenly gone from his tone. "We do not yet know why you were the only human attacked."

This couldn't be happening. They couldn't have actually been expecting me to just sit there and do nothing while my town and everyone in it were in danger. "But North-"

"No buts," he crossed his arms over his chest. "It is too dangerous for you."

"You can at least let me try to help," I yelled, frustrated. "I can't just wait here for everything to be okay. It's my home, so why can't I help save it?"

They all went silent and just stared at me, then turned to face one another. And then I knew what they were all thinking. "Oh, I get it." I clenched my fists at my sides. "I'll just get in the way right?"

The room went so silent, you could hear a pin drop, and they would refuse to meet my eyes. That was all the answer I needed. I hung my head low and said in an even tone, "That's what I thought," then turned on my heels and ran out of the room, not wanting to see their faces anymore. _They want me out of their way? Fine! Wish granted! Everyone's wish..._

...

After about twenty minutes of stomping around aimlessly, which by the way I wouldn't recommend because the place was HUGE, I somehow found my way outside. I slammed the small door open in front of me and gasped as my eyes rested on the glistening, white ground. Snow. _Well, I guess it wouldn't be the north pole without snow here, _I thought.

I must've walked out North's back door because I was standing on a wooden back porch with a couple wooden chairs and tables. I sat down in one of the chairs and looked out over the vast, mountainous, pure white landscape. _I'm actually in the North Pole._ That thought managed to calm me down a little, but don't get me wrong, I was still willing to rip all five of their heads off on sight.

I understood that they were just trying to keep me safe, but what about them? They may be the Guardians that protect the children, but I now realized that they weren't invincible like children often believed them to be. Jack losing his powers showed that to me. To tell the truth, I was probably just as worried about them as I was about Greenlake.

And all I wanted to do was help in some way. I knew that I didn't exactly have special powers... and the only thing I guess I really had going for me was my knowledge of Greenlake... but...

"Ugh, damn it!" I slammed my fist on the chair in frustration. "This is stupid, why the hell do they have to be right?"

I took a deep breath of bitterly cold, negative something degree air and pulled my legs up to wrap my arms around them. I started shaking in the intense cold, cursing myself for leaving my coat inside. Jeans and a t-shirt was _definitely _not something you should wear when you're visiting the North Pole.

_Yeah_, I thought miserably, trying desperately to keep warm because I was still too pissed to go back inside. _They're right. Whether my intentions are good or bad, I have no power, so I would just be in their way. I would be one more person they would need to worry about protecting. _I laid my forehead on my knees. _I'm so useless._

"Oh, so this is where you were."

"Huh?" I looked up and a piece of cloth hit me directly in the face.

"Wow, I'm impressed that you managed to stay out here for so long, especially in those clothes." I pulled Jack's blue hoodie away from my face and he smirked at me. "Though I don't know if you're just trying to be tough, or stupid."

"Shut up!" I threw his hoodie back at him. "And look whose talking, you're practically wearing the same thing as me." Apparently under the hoodie, he had only a plain brown t-shirt.

"True," he walked over to me and plopped the hoodie back into my lap. "But I have a higher tolerance to the cold." He smirked again. "One of the perks to being the spirit of winter. Now put it on." I was about to protest but he cut me off. "And don't tell me you're not cold, you're fingers are starting to match my hoodie."

I looked down, saw the tips of my purple fingers and swallowed my pride as I pulled the hoodie over my head. It was bigger than I thought it would be on me and the sleeves hung past my hands. I instantly felt ten times warmer. "There, are you happy now? Now just go away."

Jack grabbed another chair and pulled it up next to me. He sat down and silently stared out at the snow, just as I did when I first walked outside. "Hey, I thought I told you to-"

"Last time I checked, this wasn't your house. And you aren't the boss of me."

I crossed my arms and said nothing. _Ugh, smart ass._

After a few minutes, I asked, "Why are you still here anyway? Shouldn't you be back in Greenlake by now?"

He leaned back in his chair, the top of his head touching the building behind us. "You're not the only one that'll be in their way."

My jaw dropped. "They told you to stay here?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "North thinks that if I'm in Greenlake, then my powers will keep draining, but if I stay here then it might earn them more time."

I quietly examined his face for a few minutes. "You're strangely... calm about it."

"That's probably because I just spent the last half hour or so freezing everything in sight." He chuckled uncontrollably and gestured to the workshop. "But, the ice should melt soon." He said the last sentence still laughing but with a bit of sadness.

I saw a drop of water streak down his face and I thought for a second that he was crying. "Are you okay?" I asked, getting worried.

He leaned forward and I saw that the water wasn't coming from his eyes; it was dripping from his hair. "You're-"

"It's kind of ironic isn't it," he mumbled. "Jack Frost," he ran his hand through his hair and it came away dripping wet. "Is melting." I gasped as dark brown streaks began to appear where it had been white just seconds ago. I got a look at his eyes too, and the once clear blue irises were now freckled with specks of brown.

Jack looked longingly out at the snow like someone wishing to reconnect with an old friend. It shouldn't have been like this, _he _shouldn't have been like this. When we were flying back in Greenlake, when he was making fun of Bunny with my drawing, those were the only times where I've felt that I've seen the real Jack. This person sitting next to me, feeling sorry for himself, definitely wasn't Jack. It was me.

I looked down and saw goosbumps start to prick at his arms and I almost gasped again, but instead quickly got up, said, "be right back," and ran inside. I located my coat and pulled it on after taking Jack's hoodie off. Then I ran back outside and threw it to him.

"Cassie?" He asked, confused.

"Put it on," I said. "You're cold."

A look of irritation came onto his face and he started, "I'm not-"

"Put. It. On." I growled.

He reluctantly pulled the hoodie on and I turned around and jumped off of the porch right into the snow. It was pretty deep and I could barely walk in it but that didn't matter to me. I picked up a handful of snow and before Jack could ask me what I was doing, I chucked the snowball and hit him directly between the eyes.

All my life I had felt like a freak and a waist of space, that if I was gone everyone would be better off, especially after my mom died. But I didn't want to feel that way anymore, and I didn't want to see anyone feeling that way either, wallowing in self pity. Looking at Jack right then was like looking in a mirror and I hated it! I didn't know how I could change the way I felt about myself, but if anything I wanted to make sure that no one around me felt the same way.

I was going to remind Jack of what winter truly is; happiness, new beginnings, and fun. Something that he should know more than anything.

"Hey, what the hell Cas-" I threw another snowball and hit him on the cheek.

"How long do you plan to sit there and sulk!" I threw another snowball. "Wake up already!" Even though I was screaming at Jack, my own words hit me too because I was also screaming at myself. "Don't you even know how to have fun anymore? Or did that disappear with your powers! Isn't that-" A snowball flew back at me now and knocked me backwards. "what winter is," I finished, wiping the snow off of my face.

Jack leaned forward and started laughing like a crazed hyena, clutching his sides. "You...," he gasped for air. "Should've seen... the look on your face!"

_Oh great, _I thought sarcastically. _He's back. _But I was grinning from ear to ear.

"You know," I said getting to my feet. "I've always wondered what it would be like to have a snowball fight with Jack Frost." My grin turned into a wicked one. "But with you losing your powers, it'll be easier to kick your ass than I thought."

"Oh," Jack laughed. "You did not just say that."

He jumped off the porch after me and I grabbed another handful of snow. I ran about ten feet and threw it back at him, hitting him in the shoulder. Jack struck back with like five of his own snowballs and I went down to the ground. _How the hell did he make five snowballs... oh right, stupid question._

Jack came over and stood over me with his trademark cocky grin. "Is that all you got?"

I grabbed more snow and threw it in his face. "Not even close."

...

I didn't know how long we were out there, but what I did know was that by the time we stopped, neither of us could even move. We were both lying on the ground trying to catch our breaths.

"So," Jack mused. "Who's the best?"

"Oh, shut up," I groaned, rolling my eyes.

"Wow, someone's a sore loser."

"How can I be a sore loser if I didn't lose?"

"And now you're delusional. You've just witnessed my skills first hand."

I laughed. "Skills? You call sneaking up behind me, putting snow in my hood and yanking it over my head skills? That's just plain cheap."

"And tripping me head first into a snow bank isn't cheap?"

"Never said it wasn't." I taunted.

We sat there in silence for a few moments before I started to shake and I slowly eased myself upright. Jack followed suit, but as we were walking inside I stopped and turned to him. "Thanks for the kick ass snowball fight." I smiled. "I can't remember the last time I had so much fun."

He beamed back at me. "That's what friends are for right?"

Jack walked past me into the house, but I still stood there frozen. _Did he just say... that I'm his friend? _

_'No wonder she doesn't have any friends' _Jess's voice echoed, but I actually didn't care. Jack had just called me his friend. I had a friend, the first one I've had in a long time.

**Well, I guess you guys know the drill by now. Review and give me your input, I always love to hear what you guys have to say. ;)**


	10. What Can I Do

**Once again...sorry for the wait...GOD I HATE SCHOOL! Man that felt good, but anyway hope you guys enjoy this, cause I really enjoyed writing this one X3**

**What Can I Do?**

_...Cassie? Oh, what's the matter? Why are you crying?_

_Mom?_ I thought, lost in the darkness of my own subconscious.

_J-Jess r-ripped up my d-drawings again, _I heard a young voice sob in the back of my mind.

I felt warmth wrap around me, not the same as before though, like I was actually being hugged, like I was actually in my mom's arms again.

_Shh, it's okay,_ she soothed in her beautiful, calming voice. The voice that had told me stories and sung me songs to put me to sleep as a child. The voice I loved more than anything. _It's alright Cassie. Jessica may feel the need to ruin your drawings, but remember that you will always be able to see them._

_But that doesn't make sense, _my young voice came again, still crying. _She ripped them to pieces, how can I see them now?_

My mom chuckled. _If you're able to keep believing that you can see them, you will._

_...That doesn't make any sense mom... _

There was a long silence and then my mom's voice replied, so strong that I could hear her smile. _Your drawings are a reflection of what's in here. _My heart warmed. _Everything you see and feel is right here, and everything that makes you... you. You just need to have faith that it really is there. And who knows, one day you might just uncover something hiding in your heart that you never knew was there before._

_...Still lost._

She laughed again. _But at least you've stopped crying. Now, it looks like I need to go have a serious talk with a certain little girl's mother._

All I heard after that was my younger version's voice, cheerfully laughing as I drifted back into my black subconscious.

...

I gasped and bolted upright in bed. It was morning and I was in one of the guest bedrooms, still in the North Pole. The bright sunlight shone through the single window and illuminated the entire wood-made room.

I slowly brought my hands up and clutched them together over my heart. _How long has it been?_ I asked myself. _How long has it been, since I've dreamed about mom? _I felt tears threatening to fall and my hands tightened around each other until my nails were digging into my palms. _Just hearing her voice... makes me feel this way? Just remembering the way she hugged me? The way she always made me smile._

A jingling sound came from the other side of my door and I quickly unlatched my aching fingers and blinked away the tears. I opened the door and there were about five of the elves standing there, looking up at me expectantly.

"Um, hey?" I said, a little freaked out at the looks they were giving me. They were looking at me like I was their leader or something. "What are you guys doing here?"

Suddenly they all started jumping up and down, the large bells attached to their pointed hats jingling loudly with every movement. "Wha-" The elves then plopped themselves on the ground and each of them pulled out a single crayon, they were all holding a different color.

They held the crayons up to me like some kind of offering and it took me a few minutes to realize what they wanted. "Do... do you all want me to draw you?" As soon as the words left my mouth, the elves were back to jumping up and down excitedly, still staring at me with looks that made me feel a little bit uncomfortable.

Despite that feeling though, I laughed, their joy rubbing off on me. "Well, I guess I don't see why not." I smiled down at them.

I was still in the same clothes from yesterday so all I needed to do was walk over to the wooden desk in the bedroom and pull paper and pencils out of the drawers. I was mentally kicking myself for leaving all of my art supplies in the square because I knew that anyone could've just walked by and taken them. I won't name name's but _cough _Jess _cough._

I stepped out in the hallway and sat down against the wall. The elves all started running around, creating the different poses they wanted me to draw them in.

One of them seemed to want me to draw him doing a karate kick in the air, so he got one of the other elves to hold him up, and I drew the both of them. A smile was on my face the entire time and I was actually impressed that I was able to go a full sixteen hours without drawing anything. _I think I just broke a personal record_, I laughed to myself, but it felt so good to put a pencil on paper and create.

When I finished the first picture, the elves wanted me to draw another, and another, and another. Then by the time I had finished what seemed like my fifteenth drawing of the hyperactive pin-heads, I had the overwhelming urge to draw something a little different.

I handed the elves my final picture of their five foot high pyramid, and they all started hopping up and down like I had just given them candy while they were on a sugar high. I smiled at them but then immediately bent my head down over a fresh sheet of paper.

A few minutes after I started sketching, the drawing was still only an outline, but even then I was still able to see the pencil strokes that weren't on the page yet. When I finally finished I held it up in front of me. The scene from my dream, the one that I had heard but didn't see. I didn't need to see it though, because just by listening, I remembered everything from that day. I drew my mom comforting me, her arms wrapped around me and one hand patting my head. She was also smiling, the smile of a mother who could never be more proud of her daughter.

I stood up and walked back into the bedroom, making my way over to the window. With some effort I was able to slide the nearly frozen glass open and the frigid air rushed in to greet me. I took one last look down at the picture in my hands, my drawing, my memory, then threw it out into the mountains.

In the freezing wind rushing past me, I could hear her voice. _As long as you believe you can see them, you will. _And I thought, on the verge of tears again, _I know mom. _I didn't need the picture I had just drawn in order to remember my mom, it was just the medium I used to express it. She was right about everything she said back then, my drawings are only a refection of what I am, losing them didn't mean I would lose anything about myself. So, as long as I remembered them, that they were real to me, I would always still be able to see them. That seemed to apply to a lot of things in my life actually.

As I watched my drawing flutter away in the wind though, I actually had a bigger concern on my mind. I was still bothered by my inability to do anything to help the Guardians. There had to be something, _anything_, I could do to be of use, instead of sitting around and praying for everything to be okay. I didn't need to be out on the front lines with them, even if it was something small I would do it. But what could I-

KNOCK, KNOCK!

I turned around and Jack was standing in the open doorway. I had to do a double take to make sure it was him because more of his hair was dark brown, about five times more than I had seen yesterday. My friend, _wow never thought I'd say that_, shot me a questioning look and said, "Is there any reason why the elves are in the hallway, dancing with sheets of paper?"

I started laughing. "You mean reasons that we'd understand? Probably not."

"And what exactly are _you_ doing anyway?" He crossed his arms and smirked, nodding at the still open window behind me.

I shrugged and looked back out to see that my drawing wasn't in sight anymore. "Getting some fresh air."

As I went to shut the window, a final blast of icy wind blew past me. It howled loudly in my ears, and something in my mind clicked. _I got it!_

"Hey Jack?" I asked without turning away from the still open window.

"Hm?"

"Does North have a library?"

"Uh," He paused to think about it. "I'd be surprised if he didn't, why?"

A smile spread across my face and I turned to face him. "Because we're going to do a little research."

...

That's how we ended up in the biggest room I had ever seen, surrounded by case after case of North's books. I was in total awe as I scanned only the bottom shelf of the gigantic bookcases, I would need a ladder if I even hoped to get any of the ones higher up.

I suddenly became aware of someone practically burning a hole in my back and I turned to see a tall animal standing on two feet and covered in gray fur...it was also glaring at me with its huge arms crossed over its chest. "Jack?" I asked.

He glanced up from the stack of books he was staring at and saw who I was looking at. "Oh, that's Phil."

"Phil?"

"Yeah, he's one of North's yetis," he chuckled when he saw the look of shock on my face. "What, you've never seen a yeti before?"

I recovered from my shock and glared at him. "Well they don't exactly keep them at the zoo." Phil grunted and I turned back to him. "Sorry, I didn't mean anything by that." After everything that I've seen in the past few days, I really shouldn't have been surprised. Phil turned his gaze from me to Jack and I saw distrust in his eyes.

Jack laughed again and said, "Don't worry, he's just here to make sure we don't break anything."

The yeti grunted an annoyed response and glared daggers at Jack. "_We_? I think _you_," I smirked.

"Yeah," he mock sighed as he twirled his staff in his hand. "I have no clue why he hates me so much." Then a mischievous grin spread across his face. "Maybe it's because I do things like this?" He lifted his hand and positioned the head of his staff next to a tall glass statue that was standing in the center of the library. It looked so fragile, it could've been made of ice...or maybe it was.

Phil narrowed his eyes like he thought Jack was bluffing, and Jack responded by pushing the staff against the statue, making it softly rock back. The two continued to stare each other down, Phil with his angry glare that just dared Jack to knock it over, and Jack with his cocky grin that challenged Phil to take a step closer if he dared.

I could tell that this happened often, and that it could last for hours, so I chuckled and rolled my eyes as I turned to the reason why I had come here to begin with, the books, the mountains and mountains of books. I found a rolling ladder connected to one of the bookcases further down and I began to climb it, careful that I didn't make it move. As I scaled my way up I skimmed the books within view, looking for anything that might be useful. _There has to be some kind of mythical creature encyclopedia or something_, I thought.

I picked up a greenish colored, leather bound book and was just about to climb down with it when I heard a loud smashing sound behind me. _Great._

"Whoops," I heard Jack say as I turned to see him running circles around where the statue was now in shards, Phil was hot on his tail with the most pissed off expression I'd seen yet. "Lighten up Phil," he smiled. "It was an accident, I swear! When I get my powers back I'll make a new o- AHHHH!" Phil dove, nearly tackling Jack to the ground but he narrowly dodged it and continued to run from the yeti who was so ticked I could've sworn I saw steam coming from his ears.

I began laughing my ass off as I watched them and turned around to grab the ladder to keep myself from falling off. I was laughing so hard, I didn't even see the boys anymore until they were running directly under me.

They ran towards the bookcase and the near 600 pound yeti dove again, this time managing to catch Jack, but not tackling him to the ground but into the book case.

I gasped as the whole case began to rock back and forth. _Please don't fall_, I pleaded. _please don't fall, please don't f-AHHHHHH!_ The gigantic bookcase leaned forward and I went with it, crashing into the ladder as I went down and gripping it for dear life.

"W-w-whoa!" CRASH! The book case hit the floor and books flew up around me on impact. "...Ow..." _There is certain winter spirit and a certain yeti, that are going to wish they had never been placed on this earth... _I slowly pulled my aching body up to sit on the hundreds of books still beneath me and I rubbed my forearm, knowing that I was going to have a new bruise or two.

"Oh crap!" I heard Jack's voice ring out. I looked behind me and saw him standing on the back of Phil, who was lying on the ground, seemingly exhausted. "Hey, you alive over there Cassie?"

"Yeah, but you wont be in about five minutes." I mumbled, then raised my voice and yelled back at him, "You are _so_ lucky I'm not over there right now Frost!"

Jack crossed his arms and smiled down at Phil. "Yup, she's okay," I heard him laugh as Phil groaned.

I sighed and tried to let some of my anger dissipate, looking at the books around me._ Focus_, I told myself. _Beating Jack to a pulp wouldn't help the situation, even though it would make you feel _so _mush better._

I took a deep breath and started to sift through all of the books. When I found a bunch that interested me, I piled them into stacks and started to skim through each one for any kind of useful information.

After a few minutes, I looked back over my shoulder to see Jack and Phil staring at me like I had lost my mind. So what if I was still sitting in the middle of the bookcase, I was never going to have all these books so close to me again. It took some of the work out of getting my hands on the really high up ones. At least I had one less thing to worry about after that fall.

I let the rest of my anger slide away and smiled as I called to them, "Are you guys just going to stand there, or are you going to help me look for answers?"

Phil looked up at Jack and Jack just shrugged before jumping onto the bookcase and walking on the shelves out to me. He sat down in the circle of books I had made and grabbed one off the top of a stack, sinking his chin into his hand as he began to search the pages.

...

We spent the rest of the day in that same spot, looking through any book that may hold the answers to what was going on. But we didn't. Freaking. Find. Anything!

"Ugh!" I exclaimed, throwing the hundredth book I looked at out of my hands and flopping down on my back. "How the hell can there not be one single thing about that damn black mist!"

"There has to be _something_ about it in one of these books," Jack said, still examining the pages of the book in his hands. "I mean, there are so many books in here. Obviously we haven't looked at all of them ye- Hey!"

I sat up expectantly and asked, "What is it?"

"They talk about me in this book, and they're calling me a fairy!" I face palmed and flopped back down. "What the hell man! Tooth is a fairy, do I honestly look like one to you?"

I looked up at him and started chuckling uncontrollably. "If I said yes, would you be pissed?"

He shot me a glare and said, "Funny." Then went back to flipping through pages. "And how do we even know if what they say in these books is true anyway? Because I keep seeing some pretty messed up pictures of what this book says is me, and I swear to God I don't have wings!"

My chuckles turned into full blown laughter and I was gasping for breath when I heard the library door open. I looked over and North was standing in the doorway, his eyes widened upon seeing the destruction of his possessions. _Uh oh, not good._

I saw Phil hide himself behind one of the bookcases and North narrowed his eyes at Jack and I. "What is going on here?"

I looked anywhere but his eyes and said, "Um, research?" North's expression didn't change and I looked down. "Okay before you say anything, let me explain what happened." He crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for my story. I took a breath and said as quickly as I could, "Jack and Phil did it." Then I scrambled off of the bookcase and sped past North as fast as my feet would carry me.

I heard Jack's yelling and Phil's angry grunting from all the way down the hallway. _Ah, revenge_, I smiled to myself.

Even though our situation was dire, and a bunch of people could've been in danger... would it be bad for me to say that I was actually having fun? Don't get me wrong though, nothing was going to stop me from finding out what this thing was. _Just watch me, mom_, I thought as I made my way back to my room, one of the books I had managed to snag underneath my arm.

**Please review guys, bad, good, in the middle, I want to hear them all. They make me a better writer :) Thanks!**


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